Copyright in a Digital Environment
In an earlier module, I wrote about how digital information is different from information that we can access physically. Characteristics of digital information combined with network communications offer many new challenges when considering copyright. Let's go over some of these characteristics and think about how they relate to copyright.
- Digital objects require mediation between a person and the information, such as the use of a computer, PDA, or other device. Digital mediation requires the creation of copies and displaying of copies. In determining whether a creation can receive copyright protection, digital media such as CDs or software programs on a drive are considered a fixed format. However, using these copyrighted materials requires the creation of a number of copies. Many temporary copies are created when you watch a DVD, for example, that you do not ordinarily see. Viewing a webpage also requires copying. The file on the server is copied to your computer and displayed in your browser, and may be cached in RAM and/or the browser cache. Those are all different copies that exist or are created during the normal course of usage. The creation and use of these temporary copies for their intended purpose (watching a DVD, viewing a web site, etc.) doesn't necessarily violate copyright.
- It is very easy to create information in cyberspace. For example, it is relatively easy to create a web site, or write an email message. It is much easier for people to publish works online in a way that wasn't possible before. As a result, we have more "published" work available than we have in the past.
- It is very easy to change and move information in cyberspace, including moving resources (changing servers) or changing content (like the text on a web page). This means that information can change or be updated very quickly. It also means that things aren't always in the same place, and that you can't always be sure that a web page will have the same information it had when you first looked at it. So, even though a work is "fixed," it may be difficult to prove that something was fixed at a particular point in time.
- It is easy to copy and share digital information. Networks were created to share information, and they perform that function well. It's easy to copy and paste from a web page, and it's easy to share files. In most cases, the sharing of files involves the creation of copies. Even common tasks such as sending email and browsing the web involve the creation of copies.
- The concept of the original and its relationship to copies is very different. Copyright law, although dealing with intangible products of thought, requires fixation. In the past, the fixed copies of the original object could be examined, given away, traded, etc. Digital objects are different. Some contend that there is no digital original, or that there are many digital originals. In any case, like the ideas behind the fixed copyrighted material, digital objects can be given away or otherwise shared without losing access to the "original." The copies are identical. This is different from physical objects. A book, for example, can be given away, and the giver loses access to the book. A digital book, on the other hand, can be given away while the owner keeps an identical copy. This idea has greatly affected the arguments about first sale in the digital environment.
Here's something I want to make clear, though: to some extent, when we think about copyright many of these problems have existed before, only on a lesser scale. The copy machine, for example, made making copies a great deal easier, as did the development of the home video recorder. Working with digital materials means that we have more to think about when we consider the balance that copyright law should support.
There are also new types of materials that were not available before. For example, software. Software was afforded copyright protection in the late 1980s. The interaction between intellectual property and the digital format has caused many changes with aspects of copyright law that we've taken for granted.
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